


Hey Brother

by BlackPrism



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Comedy, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Half-Siblings, Harley Keener & Peter Parker are Siblings, Harley Keener is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Sibling Bonding, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 21:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20571239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackPrism/pseuds/BlackPrism
Summary: "So like...we're half brothers I guess."At that moment, Peter's mouth made the incredible decision to stop listening to any of the signals his brain was sending."Uh, " was all he had to say to that.





	Hey Brother

Since he had been a little boy, Peter Parker had looked up to Tony Stark. Not to Ironman - even though that was a like a cherry on top of an already gigantic, tasty sundae - but to Tony Stark, engineer and eccentric genius.

His aunt and uncle had tried to keep the ‘bad parts’ of his hero hidden from him, the weapons, the drinking, all the public scandals. But Peter still knew. Not all, not from the beginning. But he saw the news, got glimpses of newspaper articles and heard things on the radio. He knew that Tony did things, things he might have not understood completely, especially the playboyish part of Tony’s life wasn’t something Peter really got as a kid. He knew where babies came from, partially at least, but it was still something a bit beyond his age.

And even though Peter knew that Tony Stark wasn’t the best person, he still looked up to him. At first only to the things, he was able to create. But then, after Ironman, after the big change in Stark Industries, Peter began to look up to the other parts of his hero. 

The way he was trying to make up for things he did in the past, the way he was trying to help the world, the way there were fewer and fewer stories about Tony Stark getting drunk enough to need a trip to the hospital, the way suddenly large amounts of money got anonymously donated to struggling schools, and startups who had great visions but few funds.

And so Tony Stark, the man, not the brain or the armour, became Peter’s hero.

Peter had never expected to actually meet the man - well, meet him a second time if he included that time at Stark Expo - and then he did. He worked with him, he somehow managed to actually befriend Tony. Meet up with him on weekends to work on things in the lab, or just to watch movies together.

Peter also had never expected for Tony’s many flings to have anything to do with him. Tony had lost interest in those after falling in love with Pepper, a long time before he and Peter had met.

It was shortly after Peter’s 16th birthday, one morning when he got the letter.

It was shortly after Peter’s 16th birthday, on the same, early afternoon, that he was standing in Tony’s penthouse, barely remembering how he had got there, clutching the opened letter, having long lost the envelope.

“Hey, kid, what’s with that spooked look? Never imagined that Tony Stark wears boxer shorts and not briefs? A shocking discovery, I know.”

It was the same, usual banter that Peter already knew, to which he usually replied with more and more confidence, the more time passed.

But that day wasn’t usual. Nothing was usual anymore.

Peter simply held out the letter in one shaking hand.

“Uh...You remember the ‘not handing me things’ thing? ‘cause you're doing it.”

Typical Tony Stark move. Making a joke when things suddenly became serious. Peter understood it, he really did. But he couldn’t deal with that right now, he couldn’t deal with anything at the moment. Biting his lip, Peter took a step forward, still holding out the letter, his insides burning and freezing at the same time. 

“I got a letter...from my mum.”

He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to see Tony’s eyebrows melt into a concerned line. He wanted to run, but he couldn’t. He was here, he was doing it, there was no turning back.

“From my...really mum. Like...not that my mum wasn’t my mum, but...she wasn’t fully my mum...uh...in the...she wasn’t actually related to me. My dad wasn’t either. Just...they were my mum and dad...but I had another and…”

“Ok, yeah, adoption, I know what adoption is.”

This was the easy part. He could just leave it at that, hide the letter, never tell anybody. Everything would go back to normal. Things wouldn’t lead into whatever would happen once Tony knew. Once he knew that he had known Peter’s mother before he had known Peter. Before Peter had even existed. 

“And she...well..she...she doesn’t live anymore..I don’t think she does. Maybe she….but I just….she said she was sick..wrote, not said, I didn’t speak to her or anything, because I didn’t know about her, so that makes kinda sense and…”

“Kid, calm down, I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me, and I’m usually pretty good at getting things.”

Ok, Peter. Now or never.

“She told me...wrote...She sent me a letter, said she was sick, that she wanted me to know something before she died and...I don’t know if she didn’t want to tell anybody else, or maybe just didn’t want to talk to me while she was alive, maybe she just didn’t want to...I dunno…”

“Underoos.”

“She told me who my dad is. My biological one, my...the alive one.”

“Oh.”

It was silent enough that Peter could hear the building creak and groan in the way all buildings did to some extent.

“So..uh...who’s the lucky..uhm...you know.”

Peter waved the letter lightly, pushing it further into Tony’s direction. Sighing, Tony took the paper as if it would burn him, watching as a few, small photographs drifted down to the ground from behind it, once Peter let go. 

Tony might have been getting older, but his eyesight was still good enough to recognize himself on a glossy, small photograph, one of those that was taken back when one still printed them out in shops, onto fancy paper.

He didn’t pick it up. He didn’t look at the other ones.

Tony opened the letter and read.

Peter saw the way the man’s eyes widened, moved over the few sentences over and over and over again.

“...I felt like you should know…” Tony mumbled, still staring at the paper, unmoving. “She felt...Shit, I can’t believe this.”

This. This had been what Peter had been afraid of. Tony not wanting to be burdened with a child. Tony no longer wanting to have anything to do with him. Peter lowered his gaze, lips pressed together tightly, seeing Tony crouch down to pick up the pictures, out of the corner of his eyes.

“That’s really me...fuck, I think I remember her. Yes. Worked for me…” Tony was still mumbling, still crouching as he inspected the few pictures. “Must have been...2001..No, 2000, on the fucking Christmas Party.”

Petter couldn’t help but flinch as Tony raised his voice from a mumble to a slightly cracked, normal volume.

“Uh, kid, your birthday, when’s that?”

Peter needed a few tries to get his voice to work, only breathing out the first few times he tried to speak.

“August 10th. 2001.”

“Oh.”

It fit all too well. 9 months, more or less. Peter remembers his aunt telling him that he had come into the world a bit early, a bit weak and sickly. 

“FRIDAY?!”, Tony stood from his crouch, holding letter and pictures in both hands. “How long would a paternity test take? Bearing in mind that it’s me who’s wanting one and that I can shove an endless amount of money into whatever place I need to shove it to speed up the process.”

“Since I have several samples of your DNA on my servers, it would only take as long as is needed to acquire the other person DNA, about five minutes, twenty seconds added for the test itself.”

Silence. Peter wanted to climb through the nearest window, but that high up most of them were just a solid slab of glass without any opening mechanism. The door out onto the terrace was an option, but getting there would require moving. And Peter couldn’t feel even a single part of his body at the moment.

“Well, what are you waiting for!? Test mine and the spiderling’s DNA! Access Bruce’s files, he’s taken his DNA a while back.”

“On it, boss.”

Five minutes. Five minutes and they would have proof of something they both knew had to be the truth.

Tony felt like an idiot for never noticing before. The hair, the eyes...god, the eyes. It was like looking at a mirror.

But of course, he had never noticed. He had no reason to look too close, to even entertain such a possibility. But now, it really was like seeing a younger version of himself, just...smoothed in some ways. That chin was completely his mother’s. It was surreal.

“Don’t just stand there like that, sit down or something. You’re a teenager, aren’t you supposed to take every opportunity to lounge on the nearest, soft surface?”

“O-..Ok.”

They sat next to each other, rigid and in awkward silence. There was no small talk possible, no way to do more than to wait with bated breath.

“I have the results.”

Peter had to channel every bit of self-restraint he had to stay seated. Everything in him wanted to jump up onto or through the ceiling, but he didn’t dare to move or even blink.

“Well, what are they?! I didn’t programme you to make dramatically slow reveals!”

Peter closet his eyes.

“The chances are 99.7% that Peter Parker is your biological son. There is always a margin for erro-...”

“Yes, ok, shut up.”

He would never see Tony again. This was it. This was the end of lab days and weekends at the tower. Only because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Only because he panicked and ran to Tony, like a little kid runs to their parents when they break the neighbour's window and doesn’t know what to do.

“I...I have son.”

Tony’s voice was not what Peter expected. The crushing, shuddering hug that followed was even less expected.

“Of all the times I messed up, this’ gotta be the best one out of all of them.”

“What? You….What do you mean I thought...like you don’t know children I know that, you don’t seem like the type..not that you are a certain type..o- or that that would be bad, just.”

“Petey.”

“Uh..I just..”

“Shhh. Enjoy the moment. Not every day you find out your dad’s the one and only Tony Stark.”

Peter didn’t know why, but he immediately burst into tears.

  


\------

  


Peter was one of the few people who knew more about Tony Stark then most of the world did.

He knew all the things that were made public, of course. The beginning of Ironman, the enemies Tony has faced in the armour.

He did also knew about Obediah Stane, and the way he had betrayed Tony. He knew why Tony had discovered a new element, not only because he could, but because he needed it to stay alive. And he knew about the way Tony had defeated the Mandarin. Or rather the one who had made him up, who had been behind it all. 

Tony loved to swap stories, one of his for every Peter told him.

But there were things Peter didn’t know.

He didn’t know about the boy who had helped Tony, when the later had gotten stranded in Tennesse in only a t-shirt and sweatpants, armour out of energy, presumed dead after getting his house blown up.

Well, alright, he knew about most of it. Just not about Harley, the boy who had helped Tony, who Tony had taken under his wing - more or less - in return. 

So when Peter had walked into the living room, only days after discovering who Tony really was to him, staying at the Tower for another weekend, he had no idea who Tony was talking to.

Holding up his watch, projecting the holograph of a boy about Peter’s age, Tony was standing in the middle of the room, looking completely and utterly done with the world and all that lived on it.

“So you just hacked into my AI’s servers, stealing privat information.”

“Well, yeah. How else was I supposed to find out if mum was tellin’ the truth.”

“You could have called? That thing you do every week. I could have had that test done in minutes. How long did it take you?”

The boy frowned, looking sullen.

“Not my fault they wanted me to come back with a legal guardian and I had to hack that place too.”

“Yes, great, go around hacking places, why don’t you? What’s next? Taking over people’s Instagram? Stealing bitcoins?”

“You hacked into the Pentagon when you were younger than me, kinda hypocritical of you to say shit like that, isn’t it?”

“Watch your language or I will sell all of your funky little robot parts.”

“Please never say ‘funky little robot parts’ again, I’m beggin’ you.”

Peter slowly crept closer, knowing he was eavesdropping, too nervous to call attention to himself, but too curious to leave.

“And like...it’s true, y’know? The whole thing my mum told me”, the boy said, grimacing slightly. “Kinda guessed that dad was already an asshole back then, but like… I didn’t know I wasn’t like..his. Kinda weird to think ‘bout that.”

“Well, it is also kinda weird to imagine your mine.”

Silently stumbling and falling to the floor, Peter pushed himself behind the nearest wall, eyes wide.

His. His as in...the same way Peter was Tony’s?

“Yeah. Mum told me she was kinda into science back in school, that’s why she let me do all that crazy shit in the garage. Wanted me to get into sciency things too. Told me she met you at some expo or something. Didn’t go into detail…’cause y’know, gross. But like, she never told my dad ‘n only told me now. Wanted me to know ‘cause I’m old enough or something,” he said. “Told me a few months ago, and the whole test thing came back today so...yeah.”

“So..uh. Shit, I’m not good at this, but if you want you can come here. We could talk about it. Bond like a true father and son duo.”

“Ah, shut up.”

“Don’t talk like that to your father!”

“Oh, like you aren’t swearing yourself.”

Tony laughed shakily.

“Yes, but I’m having an existential crisis and a nervous breakdown at the same time. I’m allowed to.”

Peter knew about that, of course. Tony had been freaking out the last few days like Peter had never seen him do before. They both have. They still were.

“So...Uh. Want me to send Happy over there in a jet or something?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“I’m not having you travelling here on some rusty old train.”

“No need.”

Peter and Tony simultaneously turned their heads to see the boy from the holograph exit the opening elevator, now in flesh and blood, holding up an arm with the same watch that Tony had. The same kind that Peter had too. A projection of the side view of Tony’s head came out of the boy’s watch.

“Already landed here ‘bout two hours ago.”

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhhhh....sibling time. Soft.  
Thanks for coming to my ted talk


End file.
